Vegetation cutting devices such as hedge trimmers are known power operated tools for cutting hedges and other foliage and vegetation. Typically hedge trimmers are powered by a gas engine or electric motor that drives a blade assembly comprising a pair of reciprocating blades. The teeth on the blades are spaced from one another so that while reciprocating, they create gaps for bush and hedge branches to enter and be cut. These blade teeth have cutting edges along their flanks so that they create a shearing cutting action when the blades reciprocate. However, occasionally large branches are encountered that are too big to enter the gap, or even if they can enter, are too thick to be cut by the blades. Therefore, it would be advantageous to have blade assemblies having cutting edges along the tips of the teeth so as to create a saw-like cutting action to be able to cut through thicker branches.
Such blade assemblies in hedgetrimmers are known in the art, and are shown for example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,805 (“the '805 patent”). In the '805 patent, the sawblade is attached to the reciprocating hedgetrimmer blade using a nut and bolt, which are spot welded to the blade. The process of welding bolts to the hedgetrimmer blade and using a nut and bolt increases the complexity and manufacturing cost of such as design.
Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 3,217,408 (“the 408 patent”) which shows a hedgetrimmer with a saw blade that is again bolted to the reciprocating blade of a hedgetrimmer. Here, however, the saw blade is fixed on a first side of the hedgetrimmer blade with the hedgetrimmer teeth on a second side. Therefore, only one side of the hedgetrimmer has the shearing cutting teeth which limits its versatility.
Yet another example is U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0167741 which shows a pair of hedgetrimmer blades that have integrally formed end sections that have teeth that are sharpened to their tips to provide a saw-like action to cut through thicker branches. However, because the blades are integrally formed, they would require entirely new tooling to manufacture, and therefore increases manufacturing costs.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a hedgetrimmer blade assembly that includes a saw blade for cutting through thick branches. Furthermore, it would be advantageous to have a blade assembly that is easy and cost efficient to manufacture.